Agricultural combines typically include a header assembly which severs crop materials close to the ground as the combine is driven across a field. A feeder assembly moves the severed crop materials from the header assembly toward a threshing area of the combine.
A conventional feeder assembly includes a plurality of fore-and-aft extending side-by-side flexible belts or drive chains which are tensioned and move in unison relative to each other. A series of laterally elongated slats or crossbars are typically connected to and span the lateral distance between the driving chains. As the chains are driven, the slats engage and move crop materials from one level in the combine to a higher level. The driving chains are entrained for orbital movement about a pair of fore-and-aft spaced metal chain supports. Each chain is comprised of a multiple of metal parts including side plates, brackets, pins and bushings, and miscellaneous linkage parts.
Maintenance problems with known feeder assemblies have resulted from wear on the chains and the chain supports about which they are entrained. As will be appreciated, tensioning of the drive chains coupled with the metal-to-metal sliding contact between the chain and the supports causes wear on adjacent surfaces and can result in malfunctions of the feeder assembly. Repairs and/or replacement of either support and/or the driving chains require dismantling of the feeder assembly and, thus, necessitates a substantial "down time" for the combine. Known mechanical chain conveyors are further objectionably noisy. The noise created during operation of the feeder assembly is exacerbated when the chain supports are configured as laterally elongated hollow drums.
Thus, there is a need and a desire for a feeder assembly which is designed to improve durability of the feeder assembly and to attenuate the noise generated during operation of the feeder assembly.